Dusk at Cubist Castle

A fair amount of my records have been in storage at my mom’s house for the past few years. I’ve moved around a lot since I landed in NYC, so we’ve been waiting to reunite me with my records. But she moved in with her boyfriend recently and started sending me absolutely everything I had left at her house. And also things that she (or perhaps her boyfriend) don’t want at his house. So, tonight I brought home 8 boxes she’d sent to my office, the contents of which have turned out to be photo albums from college and overnight camp, a popcorn machine, the board game The a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth, and about 200 records. This project is really going to take me a long time! But, to be fair to vinyl addicts out there, my record player moonlights as a cat bed, so I really ought to let more avid listeners re-home my records.

OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL – music from the unrealized film script, DUSK AT CUBIST CASTLEBuy this record! (on sale 01/13/13)

This record is so weird and adorable. Olivia Tremor Control has to be one of the original, true indie rock bands. Indie rock pre-Garden State. They paved the way for bands like Arcade Fire and Animal Collective. If I had to pick what genre of music I most gravitate towards, I would have to say pop–in the sense that I love a well-crafted pop song. I love a catchy hook I can sing along to. Especially if there are harmonies. So while OTC make lots of strange noises in their songs and skew on the weirder side of pop, their songs are so well-crafted and original and catchy that I can’t help but adore them. Perhaps one might describe The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds that way. That’s fair. If Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson don’t tell you that this is one of their favorite albums of the 90’s, I’d be surprised and horrified. Aghast, even!

Listening to this record makes me think of Marie, a girl a I worked with at the (now defunct) record store, Harmony House, in Farmington Hills, MI. She was a couple years older than me, and as an impressionable young high schooler, I viewed her as my music model. I don’t think she knew that. She probably just thought we were regular old co-workers. Boy was she wrong! I pretty much worshipped her. Whenever she said she liked a band, I bought their record. That’s how I found out about bands like Camper Van Beethoven, Adam’s Castle, and Olivia Tremor Control. This record makes me feel hopeful, like I’m that worry free high school senior again with no cares in the world.

I can’t help feeling that I will be upset that I sold this record, but I think I will feel that way with every record. I just have to be quick and never look back! So, without further adieu…